Stories for November 22, 2018

Nadine Sierra, 2018 winner of the Metropolitan Opera's prestigious Beverly Sills Artist Award, has made her first album for Deutsche Grammophon and Decca Gold, having signed an exclusive contract with the labels last year. Recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Robert Spano, There's a Place for Us marks the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein's birth and presents the soprano's stunning vocal abilities in an eclectic choice of American classical music. In addition to works by Bernstein, the repertoire ranges from Stephen Foster and Douglas Moore to Stravinsky and Villa-Lobos, and on again to Ricky Ian Gordon, Osvaldo Golijov and Christopher Theofanidis, with texts in Spanish and Portuguese as well as English. After singing the role of Norina (Don Pasquale) at the Paris Opéra in June and July, Sierra performed music from the album at last summer's major US festivals, including an appearance at Tanglewood's star-studded Bernstein Centennial Celebration.
Watch Nadine Sierra's Q&A from Vienna's 'Yellow Lounge' on the attached file

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d}
p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px}
The DePue Brothers were named "Musical Family Of America" by a presidential decree, were the subject of a PBS documentary, and Jason and Zach were featured in the film Music From The Inside Out. The band offers outstanding workshops and masterclasses, including 8 different instrumental clinics for students of any age level as well as group classes and performances tailored for student participation.
The core of the band is made up of siblings, classically trained and with more awards between them than it's possible to list. Alex is a classical violinist as well as a rocker and an award-winning fiddler. Wallace is presently assistant concertmaster of the Philly Pops. Jason is a member of the first violin section of The Philadelphia Orchestra and Zach is currently concertmaster for the Indianapolis Symphony. That's a lot of musical firepower already, but add to the ensemble a world-class percussionist from The Philadelphia Orchestra, Don Liuzzi; IBMA 2013 Banjo Player Of The Year Mike Munford and esteemed bassist Kevin MacConnell, and what you get is a unique, high energy take on traditional music.
The 4 violin playing brothers are back at it again, this time with the whole band in a family favorite, The Orange Blossom Special. Watch the attached clip and Enjoy!!!

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d}
p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px}
The South London kids aged 7 to 16 years who make up the choral group Libera have released a truly extraordinary new album - ‘Beyond' through Invisible Hands Music. The eagerly-anticipated recording, is a transformative and spiritual musical experience which comes on the heels of their globally successful 2017 ‘Hope' album. ‘Beyond' includes ‘Sanctus' with its extraordinary vocal range and heavenly serenity, the breathtakingly beautiful melodic elegance of ‘Salve Regina', the exciting and uplifting ‘Benedictus Deus' and, as an antidote to the angst and pressures of modern life, ‘Voca Me'. The latter holds the record for the highest notes on ‘Beyond' - higher even than the top C in the famous ‘Miserere' by Allegri; Leo Barron notches up a top D!
Libera also recently received a Silver Subscribers Award from YouTube for reaching 100,000 subscribers and are now closing in on 150,000. This is fantastic and you can watch the boys thank their subscribers on the attached video.
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d}

A recital with Juan-Diego Flórez is always bound to be a major event. His performance at Carnegie Hall on Sunday afternoon, no surprise, boasted an electric atmosphere, even if his early over-reliance on the familiar led to an imbalance between the program's two halves (three, if you count his parade of encores).
The top of Sunday's announced program was a predictable run of bel canto arias and canzone: starting with Rossini's "Addio ai viennesi." Flórez showcased the bright vitality of his upper range, stretching the tops of phrases and dangling high pianissimos for added flair. He took a similar tack in "Come poteva un angelo" from Verdi's I Lombardi alla prima crociata and "Tombe degli avi miei" from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, where pianist Vincenzo Scalera gave a reverent, warm rendition of the introduction.
Photo: Chris Lee
READ THE FULL New York Classical Review ARTICLE

a message from Ray Chen........ 'The purpose of this video is to give people a fair idea of how a real practice session looks like when you approach a piece from scratch. You usually hear the sparkly clean finished product, but it tends to always start somewhere deep in ugly-town. Sometimes practicing is demotivating, especially when Señor Show-off over on instagram has uploaded a perfect 1-minute clip of themselves nailing that stupidly difficult passage.
If you feel like you've hit a wall in practicing, just know that EVERYBODY has struggles. I hope you feel better after watching me get my ass kicked by the first 2 phrases of the Sauret Cadenza.
Now go practice!
Much love to you all and thanks for watching! :) '
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d}
p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px}

Having just released his first album at the age of 66, Jeff Goldblum is joyously unschooled in the mechanics of playing for 1,000 people at a time. That's not to say he is unaccustomed to gigging live – he has had a semi-regular slot at a Los Angeles bar for decades, playing jazz piano when movie commitments permit – but he has never bumped up against the strictures that govern most pro touring musicians. Thus, while promoting the album, The Capitol Studios Sessions, with four sold-out sets, Goldblum runs his show according to his own warm, wonky internal rhythm. Photograph: Michael Bowles/Rex/Shutterstock
READ THE FULL Guardian REVIEW

Kim Kashkashian is an internationally known violist. Besides her performance schedule, she teaches at the New England Conservatory, and is Founder and President of the project Music for Food. She recently released an album featuring Bach's six cello suites, played on viola. Bach's fondness for the viola is well documented and the instrument played an important role in many of his works.
Kim talked with IdeaStationWCVE: Richmond VA - Classical Music Host, Mike Goldberg about this recording and the differences you'll hear with the viola, being one octave higher than the cello. I hope you enjoy our discussion and you can check out sound clips from the release here. LISTEN
Photo: Steve Riskind

Top 10 for Nov

A selection of Coltrane's 1963 Impulse! recordings, derived from the original albums Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, Dear Old Stockholm, Newport ‘63 and Live at Birdland
In the brief, bright arc that is the career of John Coltrane, 1963 marks a point of transition between past jazz masterpieces and future work, which would transcend the boundaries of the music itself.

Written, composed, performed and recorded by Grammy and Ivor Novello Award-winner Imogen Heap, The Music of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is presented as four contemporary musical suites, each showcasing one of the play's theatrical acts.

Legendary jazz bass player Charlie Haden and pianist Brad Mehldau joined forces back in November 2007 to perform together at the Christuskirche church in Mannheim, resulting in the live recording Long Ago and Far Away.

Trumpeter and singer Brian Newman's first album for Verve, SHOWBOAT, is out today and features a brand new track with his long-time friend and colleague
LADY GAGA on "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," a song that was first recorded by Nina Simone in 1964, and subsequently covered by The Animals.

Tony Bennett and Diana Krall celebrate their shared love of the music of George and Ira Gershwin on their new collaborative album, LOVE IS HERE TO STAY, set for a September 14th release on Verve Records/Columbia Records.

First-ever Ashokan Bluegrass Camp wraps up as a great success / Bluegrass Today

Posted: October 30, 2018 12:00 AM
| By: Admin

The Ashokan Center in New York recently hosted their initial bluegrass camp, after successfully holding instructional camps for old time, klezmer, and other forms of traditional music and dance in Saugerties, NY. Faculty included Tony Trischka teaching banjo, Claire Lynch working with vocalists, Matt Flinner for mandolin, Becky Buller for fiddle, Scott Nygaard for guitar, and Mike Bub for bass. A number of associate instructors were also on hand to assist with the various classes and jams.

Tony Watt, camp organizer, has shared this nice overview of the camp experience.

"The first-ever Ashokan Bluegrass Camp just wrapped up yesterday afternoon, and by all accounts, it was a great success! We had over a hundred campers, which is the largest first-year camp in the nearly 40-year history of music and dance camps at Ashokan. All the credit goes to the amazing line-up of teachers, the wonderful people and facilities at The Ashokan Center, and Jay Ungar and Molly Mason for their vision and efforts to bring a bluegrass camp to Ashokan."

Crossover Media Projects with Jay Ungar, Molly Mason

The Pleasures Of Winter is music for Winter and the Holiday Season featuring Jay & Molly's live performances from their annual Public Radio program with a variety of great musicians making guest appearances in the house band including: Harry Aceto, David Bromberg, Peter Davis, Peter Ecklund, Laurel Mass, Brian Melick, Michael Merenda, Ruth Ungar Merenda, Kate Pierson, Steve Rust, Butch Thompson, Tony Trischka and Sam Zucchini.